Thursday, April 28, 2011

Dr. Oz finally had a show that promoted a plant based diet as a way to prevent cancer and heart disease, diabetes, and the like. The last few years have been incredible for getting information out to people via film, and this may be one of the most highly viewed films yet. "Forks Over Knives" is saying that using a fork over a knife, eating plants over meat (and dairy too), can prevent a huge number of diseases. Not only prevent, but even cure. Featured people in the show included Dr. Esselstyn, Rip Esselstyn, and my favorite, Colin Campbell (author of "The China Study"). Dr. Oz called its concepts the possible "Hail Mary of Medicine", declared his love for the film and thought everyone should see it too.

Which we probably should....considering we spend over 120 BILLION dollars each year on drugs and trying to fix a lot of things that may be preventable. Lee Fulkerson, director of the film, dropped his own weight by 20 pounds, his blood pressure by 30 points, his LDL cholesterol went from 157 to 80 and his CRP went from 6 to 2.8. In 12 weeks with doing nothing more than eating a plant based diet with no processed foods and no added oil. WHAT? Yep. No added oil. Now lots of the Plant Based peeps differ on this point. Most vegans eat Olive Oil! But.... Why take a massive amount of olives, go to all of this work to squeeze the oil out of them, and eat that when we can just eat the olive itself? It also would use less energy! Just eat the olives, the avocados, the nuts. Forget the whole "factory" part! Hm.....thinking my raw food cheezecakes might be safe because I use Arstisana Whole Coconut, a loophole indeed!

So, excess protein turned cancer on. Plant protein did not. That was just one of the findings in "TheChina Study". There is also massive amount of evidence about the possible negative effects of casein, a milk protein. Apparently the docs had about a 92% compliance rate with the diet, which is pretty darn good. Of course life changes take time and you have to hang with the right crowd to learn the ins and outs of cooking and buying these foods. Basically hit your produce aisle and your bulk. Frozen fruits and veggies are okay too. Neal Barnard, a 25 year vegan, comes out on stage to give us the visuals of what we can and can't eat on this type of diet. It kind of goes like "Nothing with a Parent of a Face". I was happy he talked about the no fish part as we are convinced that Oz is already getting paybacks from the Salmon industry. But Barnard says that most of the fat in fish is not the Omega type we are trying to get anyway and that oil isn't good for your heart. And fish has cholesterol. If you are looking for long chain DHAs, then get the algae caps (like Omega Zen). That is where the fish get them from! Why not you? Of course Barnard's blog talks about how the fish oil actually increased prostate cancer risk! Check out Neal Barnard's "The Cancer Project" and recipes from Cancer Project site Here.Just a few of his books/dvds! Go to his site & read about all of his programs! Cancer Surivor's Guide Book.

1. No Meat and NO fish.

2. No Dairy. So no cheese, no eggs, no milk.

3. No processed Food which would include oils! No olive oil!

Rocco, the meat loving cowboy, that was put on a plant based diet for 30 days (on the Dr. Oz Show) to save his life.

What can you eat? Anything else! There are a multitude of grains like Quinoa, Millet, Brown Rice. Beans and Nuts. Leafy greens and lots of Fruits. All of these foods stretch out our tummies and make us feel full. Olive oil and meat just sit there, and we still can fit food in our bellies. Trust me, there are only so many beans or apples you can eat before you actually can't fit any more in your belly! Then he made a quick salad dressing of Lemon Juice, Thyme, and Garlic and put it over a Spinach, Tofu, and Veggie Salad.

And yet another mover & shaker in the Plant Powered Men movement, Rip Esselstyn. He wrote the "Engine 2 Diet" where he put his own Firehouse (Rip is kind of a "ripped" fireman himself) on a plant based diet and it had incredible results. He later did the same thing with a Chicago Firehouse on the Oz show. And his dad is "The Dr. Esselstyn" whose work showing the scientific basis for all of this is shown in the movie. Click here for some of "Rip's" recipes. Rip tells us all 5 foods you must have in your kitchen. Escarole, Banana Ice Cream, Rhubarb, Freeze Dried Strawberries, and Nutritional Yeast. All for "Cancer Fighting" qualities.

Although I went vegan for ethical reasons, after reading the work of John Robbins and Colin Campbell, I personally equate milk or meat with something like having a cigarette and would consider them the same risk. Especially when I started reading about Prions and BSE (Mad Cow Disease) and possible Alzheimers patients that may be suffering from something different. Why start eating a potentially addictive food if I have to stop? Dr. Campbell's studies are eye-opening. They "turned on" and "turned off" cancer cells. With what? Animal Protein.

Dr. Oz comes out with a fork and a scapel and lets us know that it may be that the fork is more powerful in preventing and curing disease than the scapel. And obviously less expensive and easier. He mentioned that he carried "The China Study"book around with him and educated his heart patients about the benefits of a plant based diet. Especially after he has seen them a few times, and there was nothing more he could do for them. Maybe that is a blessing in disguise. Maybe the thought that we can empower ourselves to change many of our debilitating diseases is the real blessing.

Interview with Colin Campbell

Using a fork over a knife could save your life. A plant-based diet can not only lower your risk for cancer and heart disease, it can reverse their...

Using a fork over a knife could save your life. A plant-based diet can not only lower your risk for cancer and heart disease, it can reverse their...

Are you concerned about cancer? Learn the 5 foods everyone can keep in their kitchen to lower their risk. Give your kitchen a makeover and improve...

Are you concerned about cancer? Learn the 5 foods everyone can keep in their kitchen to lower their risk. Give your kitchen a makeover and improve...

I do know that if I were to get cancer, like from being in abandoned buildings, getting puppies, that I have accumulated enough evidence for my own being, that I would hit either the Hippocrates Institute or the Gerson Center. I would see regular doctors as well but I would most likely not go through "regular" treatment. I believe I would have a tumor cut out of me, but am unlikely to get radiation and 99% sure that I would never go through any type of Chemo. I remember hearing that if you are Cancer Free for 5 years and die the 6th year, that you are considered "Cured". Since when is "Cured" being alive for 5 years. It seems that people are pushed into Chemo without time to even think. Heart Disease as well. "We must start today, or you will die." Do they tell you that they can run all of their treatments, every one of them, and what your rate of living beyond the 5 or 10 years is? Seeing people dying of Chemotherapy is a very sad place to be. Sometimes I think that they are just writing checks to have a system kill them. It's prudent to pay attention to these issues now because if you find yourself in a very scary situation, I believe that there is an immense amount of pressure to "act fast" and the "Client" is not given a ton of time or other options for healing. Obviously most oncologists aren't going to say, hey, have you heard about Wheatgrass? Castor Oil? Carrot Juice?

No. Unfortunately, many tell Clients that they need more protein and to drink more milk.
Heartbreak.

"Cruelty to animals is as if man did not love God...there is something so dreadful, so satanic, in tormenting those who have never harmed us, and who cannot defend themselves, who are utterly in our power." -Cardinal John Henry Newman

Are there people out there reading that have had personal experiences with Cancer, Diabetes, Heart Disease or other illnesses? What has your experience been like? Have you seen films like "Healing Cancer from the Inside Out"? Do you think about what you would do if diagnosed with these "ailments"?

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Today on Dr. Oz! Some Vegucating going on. I am so saddened every single day of the lives lost, some suddenly, some after years of illness, simply because what industry & corporations & our government support as far as what we put on our plates. The same people who want to fix the economy destroy it by not addressing the economic costs of diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. So happy to see some other views being represented in such a mainstream place. So set your DVR's to tune into some peeps telling their side of the story, the one that your Doctor may or not be telling you........

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

These video excerpts are small excerpts of that morning's "journey". The rescue of Jois took hours......All videos can be viewed in HD, you just need to click on the 720/HD on bottom right (hold mouse above to see where to click!).

Ms. PJ has been going to East St. Louis every single day for over a decade to feed & care & foster "Los Perros de la Calle". She is one of the most beautiful, fragile yet resilient, and strongest women I have ever met and I feel so blessed that I am able to brush shoulders with her in this lifetime. Check out Gateway Pet Guardian's Website for our "Adventures in Pet Rescue" blog & to buy the documentary about PJ (Gateway Guardians). Yours truly, little Vegan Chic with an attitude, is doing the talking & the shaky filming (the ground is always something like this-collapsed homes! and the only reason I am filming is because I will show up to her place on time and am on the rescue! Not for my stellar videography!! If you are interested in an Adventure or just a morning feeding (which is a lot more low key), then contact Gateway Pets!

So, wonder what it is like going on a rescue?? Or feeding the pups on the East side? Either way, if you are set to "ride" with PJ in the morning, you best be prepared for anything! Some mornings I would ride, unaware any type of rescue was planned, and find myself desiring thicker pants, and bulky gloves! Or maybe thought we would be in the car more, and realized once we got there that we would be outside for an indefinite amount of time and I really was fantasizing about polartec leggings under my jeans! Generally she provides the flashlights and tools, but you might want to make sure your attire is suitable for walking through thick brush (hats and long sleeves), bitter cold or windy weather, durable yet old footwear, bulky gloves for biting/nipping pups, thinner gloves for Pj's demolition team (usually ripping apart old buildings), glasses for either the sun or to prevent your eyes getting full of soot, and thicker pants that you don't mind getting muddy and that will provide protection from debris of outside or old buildings.

Bring your charged cell phone, you get extra credit for iPhones or the like since we will never be lost and will have all of our contact in for right there, along with video and still film. Oh, they also come in handy to find a vet that will let us take our freshly rescued do to them, spur of the moment, and also to scramble for additional fosters if we end up with more than we anticipated, or a different dog than anticipated! And in general, leave your time frame at home. Pj's time frame is generally, "until we get the dog". However, sometimes it takes multiple visits for a rescue, simply because there is no guarantee that the planned rescue will even be sighted that day, or that we will be able to catch them.

Although most of the dogs adjust quickly after they are rescued, they are often fearful of people and have survived solely because of their ability to outrun "man". Well, we all know Pj isn't "man", but a Hollywood Action Figure, and although she can't outrun them, she can usually devise a way to out "trick" them and find a successful path to their rescue. These videos give a glimpse of what our April 16, 2011 rescues looked like. From arriving at the site, just trying to even have access to it, to discovering that it was a slightly different situation than we had expected. We were expecting brush and maybe a crawlspace, as Pj is master of crawling on her belly, under floorboards.

However, this was debris, linoleum, carpeting, and very thick vines that had been impacted to create a nearly impermeable ceiling. Beneath this "ceiling" was a foundation of a home, and tunnels divided into sections by cinderblocks. It took endless hours of shoveling, at first with our hands, and then calling in backup. About 3/4 way through we made a spur of the moment call to Mr. B, who dropped his beekeeping duties at moment's notice to come help. Our Puppy Saving Prince came bearing tools that he claimed, were not invented by a chic, like shovels! We ended up with one puppy that day. Saw another "escape" and the third, we had no clue! They would have to wait for their "Journey Home". I think Jois fared pretty well during the whole ordeal. She was frightened at first because Pj had to hold to really drag her out of there, but she warmed up right away during her bath. And apparently she follows her foster family around the entire house, whining to be picked up and petted. And please let us know if you would ever like to ride with us! We promise to try to tell you if there is a rescued planned or if you need your work boots!

Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.
—Albert Schweitzer, French philosopher, physician, and musician (Nobel 1952)

Monday, April 25, 2011

What? You love dogs and you are pissed and livid and all over your social media telling Jay Nixon to f** o** and that you aren't going to vote for him again?? Well, first, it started with the Republican Vote base. But you are RIGHT. Mr. Jay Nixon should have upheld what Missouri Voters wanted and pulled his cojones out of his a** to do it. So you are helpless and you can't stand the fact that these poor dogs are suffering so miserably why these blow hards protect their "Agricultural Interests"??

What can you do in this moment to change that?

Go Vegan.

Don't keep giving their side money! If you think the whole thing is totally bogus and you want the puppies to win, you must quit buying products from all of the companies that want Prop B killed. Animal Agriculture. And that means chicken. Yep, chicken is not vegetarian. No meat. No dairy. No Eggs. If you are still using and buying these products from people who are funding the opposition, then consider yourself against Prop. B. Consider yourself in support of factory farming puppies. 'Cause that's why everyone is so freaked out. They are really freaked out that if you give 2 shits about puppies that somehow you might not like that pigs are treated even worse! You can bitch. You can moan. But if you are still eating chicken, you just voted. And it wasn't for the puppies.

Simple Economics. Quit giving money to the people who are killing Prop. B. To the companies pouring endless funds into advertising and lobbying. Even if you think pigs, chickens, and cows are very different creatures than your beloved puppies, in my opinion, you should stop funding the source! If you are against abortion, you generally don't make daily payments to Planned Parenthood and have them earmarked for abortions. Or if you are Christian, do you make a monthly check out to A Muslim Mosque, to support their activities-or vice versa? Do I make out checks to John Ashcroft every single day? You vote with your money. You buy stuff everyday. And you probably buy food more often than anything else. In addition to saving the puppies, well you may (in my opinion) find yourself with a lower risk of cancer, diabetes, obesity, stroke, and heart disease.

Then adorn yourself and be proud (check out more vegan jewelry here).At least you don't have to spend countless hours trying to pull your cojones out of a vast, dark, impacted place (this diet will clean ya out too).

Sunday, April 24, 2011

We spent the rainy morning at a very cool "Black Bear Bakery". A veggie/vegan place with an anarchist/communal type of vibe. Will be posting lots of photos soon from a brunch (ALL vegan from 10 until 2) we had there a few weeks ago. They are reinstating their Vegan Sundays with 25% of proceeds often going to a non-profit. Sighted reading material included "Crazy Sexy Diet" by Kris Carr and "The Gas We Pass" (which may be appropriate if you overindulge on the Baked Kale with Abundant Garlic or maybe even if you do the 21 day Crazy Sexy Adventure Cleanse, as someone found my blog by searching for "Crazy Sexy Diet Poop Smell"!!).

So no eggs or sacrificial lamb for us (Wasn't Jesus having to die enough? I can never understanding having to kill stuff to celebrate his coming back to life....), just vegan blueberry pancakes (these ROCK), vegan sloppy joes, vegan blueberry muffins, vegan sweet potato baked fries, vegan garlic laced baked kale, homegrown salad with lots of spicy greens (which this spicy blonde digs), vegan strawberry yogurt, vegan blueberry not overly sweetened blueberry pie, french toast, vegan biscuits and gravy and lots of other yummies! This place rocks.......So above a fitting "Easter" video. Easter at Farm Sanctuary, a place where the geese, chickens, and lamb are being celebrated in a living form!

Vegan Brunch Sundays!
10-2 pm! Only Ten Bucks! Homemade Vegan Eats.

Teddy Bear Upstairs at Black Bear. Note: The book was already in his hands!
Also noted, I am not an anarchist! I still like to buy stuff and remember even voting Green is a progressive stretch for me!! Even though I try to buy hemp and fair trade, I am still attached to girly-girl stuff and I still vote! I do however, have some sympathisers in my dad's side of the fam. You know, that Zany Quaker Upbringing. Breeding Poets, Food Not Lawns Activists, Tasmanian Writers, Social Workers, and Social Activists! If we made more money (the lack of this is due to my Zany Quaker Upbringing and Social Change Grandmother and Grandfather!), we would be the "Yuppie" ones on this side of the family! As it stands I think my most recently married cousin stands a better chance! They can probably afford to buy newer cars than us (Oh, that we even have cars probably disqualifies us from the Anarchy Club, as Bikes seem to be the preferred mode of transportation)! And she probably still votes Democrat too, and hasn't gone Green just yet! All my Aunts and Uncles Vote. (I think)...think it's just a few in the younger generation that has some doubts about the system as a whole and believe that just living a certain way "replaces" voting and obviously, I guess voting signifies that there actually "is" a Government. Which Anarchy would not include!

I was not enrolled in youth groups or Bible studies when I was a kid (my mom has residual Catholicism from childhood and my father was raised attending a somewhat secular, or at least not traditionally "God-Centered" type Quaker Meeting house). My only experience with "Church" was when I went to visit my Grandmother (on my mom's side) and would go to Palm Sunday or something with her. She was a progressive, Democrat type of Catholic. She was not marching outside of Planned Parenthood shouting at chics going in for their Birth Control Pills. I sometimes went to church with my Spanish girlfriend also, another Catholic church, but that was usually because we were having an "overnight" later and a matter of logistics.

I remember always freaking out about not knowing the order of making the "cross" with your hands and also how did this whole group of people know when to stand, sit, and kneel? It was practically a work-out!! I didn't know that all of those things were particular to "Catholics" and that you weren't expected to just "do" those things! I thought anyone who grew up Christian did the same things! And I tried to act like I knew all the secret hand signals. I don't remember if I ever drank the grape juice. I remember thinking I was supposed to but then you had to know the secret hand signals and what if you went up there and you f**ked it all up? I remember sitting there watching everyone, trying so hard to remember the order!! I would try to "study" it so I would "pass". What happened if you flubbed? Would the Priest Man scold you and send you away? Would he tell you that God said "Go Home and practice your hand signals??". It was SO confusing to me!! And then the books.....there were so many books and you had to go from one to the other and sing and then "repeat after me".

My parents ended up into Eastern Philosophy on different levels. They have just about every "Sounds True" Audio Cd ever made and listen to Pema Chodron, Alan Watts, Ram Das, Georg Feurstein, Jack Kornfield, Stephen Levine....and countless others. My dad still goes to "Meeting". My Mom is really into "Yoga Nidra" which she learned from Richard Miller. We give her s*it because I tell her she needs to do more exercise and she says, but I do yoga and Dad says "But laying down on the floor for an hour isn't really burning many calories". Yes, it may burn a whole lot of Karma, but Calories for the Physical Body, in this lifetime.....? Maybe not so much :)

Note the Card!
Sarah Palin holding a Rifle.
This is my Easter Card from my parents!

Inside of the Card.

My Dad's mom started attending Quaker Meeting because it was some type of "religious" upbringing that meshed with her thoughts and didn't inherently undermine her values. I think of Quakerism as almost being a progressive political party or something. All the peeps seemed to be educated, worldly, and active. It was about getting out in the world and changing it with a huge emphasis on human/equal rights. My grandmother wasn't buying bananas or grapes because of the conditions of the farm workers. She shopped at the co-op and I lamented that when I stayed with her I only got date sweetened carob treats and granola (before it was yuppie!). She knitted gloves for lepers. Both her & my grandad taught English to Spanish folks on Texas/Mexico border. It's too funny, because now I am the one eating the carob & the dates!

Our alternative Easter Basket from my folks.

Easter Basket.

The thought that there was only one correct religion was never ever taught to me. Of course I grew up in a small, all white town and I believe that everyone was Christian, the the broad sense of the word, meaning they believed in one God (the Christian one, duh-not the idea that Christ and Krishna may be the same idea) , and the Bible was their "go-to" guide. Somehow I was attracted to Eastern philosophy, thought, in a very broad sense. Just the idea that we were actually "all together" in this thing, and that the idea was not to turn everyone into the same religion. Also, everything seemed so much more abstract, so much more colorful, and much more well-adjusted. Meaning, that it is easier for all the peoples in the world to co-exist if one religious group isn't raising funds and fervently trying to change another group's beliefs. Needless to say, I don't know a lot about the Bible. So when I have a question, I have to ask my husband (whose mother enrolled him in some Bible Class type of stuff, I think primarily so she could get some "alone" time!!). I won't go into detail now about his translations, but they are quite entertaining and modernized for the sake of me being able to understand them.

One of our Square Foot Gardens that my amazing hubby put together after I began driving around looking at any homes, any price, anywhere, for just a little bit of green space. One day I got "busted" when I had to call after the car broke down! I had just gone to the Post Office and was in a weird part of town and the damn thing conked out. I had to call and tell him where I was and that then was forced to confess that I was driving to house (more like yard) I saw advertised in paper. A few weeks later, these Square Foot Garden Boxes Mysteriously showed up at our house!!

Heard some great tunes this morning also from a duo called "Devil's Dream". Lots of Gary Harrison tunes played by a Roger Netherton, a great young fiddler and Alice Sanvito, a power pickin' guitarist. Take a listen!! Roger Netherton is only 15 or 16! Black Bearalways has great old time, folksy, and bluegrass type of music going on! Check out Black Bear Bakery's Facebook Pagefor who and what is happening next for all of your hippy, yippy, yappy, yuppie, anarchy cravings. Oh & for music & food menus too! And they are supporters of SLOUP, which is an artistic micro-grant group that meets monthly for soup, bread, conversations and voting on grant proposals to better the community. Very Cool. Apparently tonight it's at Black Bear and in addition to Vegan Soups, Booze (for a small donation), Black Bear Bread, there is even an ACCORDION player!! How can you resist? I think we would all be happier if there was just a little more Accordion music in our lives. It works for the French, Germans, and the Czech's (it's that Bohemian Bloodline talking).

Did anyone else out there grow up with less "defined" religious beliefs? Are you the same religion today as the one in which you were rasied? Do you attend religious services all the time or just on holidays? How has your relationship to God/and or religion changed over the years?

Kala Chana "Black Chickpea Curry" Recipe from The Indian Slow Cooker . This one is from page 80 of " The Indian Slow C...

Disclaimer

Obviously this blog is purely for entertainment. I am not a doctor nor do I even play one on TV (no comment on foreplay). Anything I write is based on my own personal experience and you should consult a doctor (choose one wisely!!) if you have any medical concerns. I take no responsibility for any information you use from this blog.